Air Algérie crash: second black box from flight AH5017 found

Experts from UN mission in Mali find second black box as French and Burkinabe presidents meet victims' families

Wreckage from Air Algérie flight AH5017 at the crash site, where the second black box was found. Photograph: Sia Kambou/AFP/Getty Images

Associated Press in Bamako-

Saturday 26 July 2014

The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali said on Saturday that its experts had found the second black box of the Air Algérie plane that crashed in remote northern Mali, killing all 118 people onboard.

The second box may help to determine what caused the plane to go down, according to a statement by the UN mission.

Air Algérie flight AH5017 was flying from the Burkinabe capital of Ouagadougou to Algiers on Thursday when it crashed near the Mali-Burkina Faso border.

The Burkinabe government flew three family members of those killed to the crash site on Saturday so they could see the aftermath for themselves, said spokesman Victorien Sawadogo.

The Burkinabe president, Blaise Compaore, was due to meet other family members on Saturday afternoon, he added.

In Paris, the French president, François Hollande, also met victims' families. Nearly half of those who perished on flight AH5017 were French.

Spanish and Algerian officials flew to Burkina Faso to express their condolences. All six members of flight AH 5017 were Spanish.